The ideology of governors can sometimes be hard to measure because they do not take roll call votes, as members of Congress do. But a method devised by Adam Bonica, a political scientist at Stanford, would infer that Mr. Christie was quite moderate based on the political orientation of his campaign contributors....

Here's another, less abstract way to think about the question. What positions has Mr. Christie taken that could potentially give him problems with the conservative base — as Mr. Romney’s stance on health care and Mr. Perry’s on immigration have?

32 comments:

Because Christie would have little chance of winning. Perry is losing steam because he is too liberal for the base, so what makes you think a candidate who is even more to the left would be more attractive to conservatives?

I would enjoy seeing him in debates, but he is better staying in New Jersey.

Christie has brains enough to know that 2 years as Governor of Jersey isn't enough to be POTUS.

Fred4Pres said...

Because Christie would have little chance of winning. Perry is losing steam because he is too liberal for the base

Actually, I think it's because he's looked uncertain in the debates and hasn't defended his positions adequately (his position on immigration being the prime example) - the latter being a problem causing much frustration in said base after Bush, pere et fils.

Christies appeal is his fiscal conservatism which is driving voters. Were going down the economic shit tubes and the electorate knows it. The fringe base on both sides will scream about AGW, gays in the military, abortion etc, but the grownups in the room are concerned about the out if control spiral of debt and joblessness.

What's funnier is Christie seems to be that type of Republican that liberals think we conservatives should embrace, he's moderate, believes in gun control, soft on illegal immigration, AGW follower but they still hate the man.

If some republican would tell his reactionary, fascist base to go to hell and started talking like an intelligent, responsible adult then maybe some of us who are independent and looking my think about voting republican again. But so long as they pander to the intellecual dwarves of the far right and talk seriously to people like Michelle Hell, the Crazy Eyed Witch of the North, they are SOL. Lock the tards up, find some balls and appeal to the adults. The idiots have no other place to go.

"If some Republican would tell his reactionary, fascist base to go to hell and start talking like an intelligent, responsible adult, then maybe some of us who are independent and looking might think about voting Republican again."

Almost, but not quite, Pragmatist. Next time, you ought to consider throwing in "Christianist, "creationist" and "fetus-worshiper" to make your excuse for voting for the SCOAMF again palatable.

The idea that the GOP would sail to victory if only it would drop any pretense of being pro-life and against so-called "gay marriage" is pretty ridiculous.

For one, there's precious little that the GOP has actually accomplished for its prolife voters; which translates into reason for pro-legal-abortion voters to still vote GOP and not worry too much, which is what has happened.

Two, there is a large number of folks whose only reason to vote GOP is that it seems at least plausibly prolife. If the GOP actually did what folks say would be obviously "smart," they would give all those folks no reason to vote GOP any more.

All this ignores the fact that the GOP won the 2010 election cycle pretty convincingly without following this advice, and has won presidential elections without doing so. And it would be laughable for someone to claim the 2008 election would have been McCain's if only he had been pro-legal abortion.

Finally, folks who say this know nothing about politics. Elections are won with what might be called unknowing coalitions. I.e., lots of folks who don't agree with each other, end up agreeing on a candidate who wins. A Republican wins when he not only appeals to the party loyalists, but also is credibly appealing to other single-issue folks who are needed to get a majority. Same in reverse for the Dems.

That's why, for example, President Obama has to do things to keep his single-issue folks happy, and the same with Dems in Congress.

===============No more than putting the feisty independent and unready female from Alaska on the ticket caused an implosion of dumb, festy, independent, and female voting blocks to break for Republicans.

Rule of politics 1: Blacks will vote for a black over any white candidate save when the black is a "Republican Tom" in the eyes of black Democrat plantation overseers.

Rule of politics 2: Hispanic is an artificial race invented by two Jewish lawyers at EEO in 1965. (The also invented the Pacific Islander category that excluded most Pacific Island nations, and magically ruled there were no Native Americans south of the Mexican Border).Rubio is white and Cuban-American. THere is no race solidarity in hispanics because hispanics themselves classify themselves as something other than hispanic except when seeing racial preferences they can enjoy. Mestizo Mexican, white Mexican, Dominican with a little African blood. Black Panamanian ancestry.